The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

Generous Killarney Mall shoppers and retail sponsors have managed to collect one-years-worth of stationery for Thembelenkosini Care Givers in Soweto, part of an ongoing initiative to support the centre.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

How to fight terrorism while at the same time not encourage it is a challenge Israel continues to grapple with. Last Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he was enacting the so-called “terrorist salaries law” for the first time. It allows Jerusalem to deduct from the monthly taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) those monies it claims go towards terrorism.

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I can’t bear bullies! I know I am not alone in having a serious aversion to anyone or any group who tries to make themselves feel better by making others feel bad about themselves. I can’t stand people who push others around just because they are not able – for whatever reason – to stand up to them.

We have all heard the term before, and either flinched, cringed, or nodded our heads. The words “apartheid Israel” have become a term so often used in the discourse around Israeli-Palestinian conflict that we have somewhat lost our ability to think critically about its use.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

It boggles the mind. Why is so much Torah-coverage given to the subject of an elaborate tent-structure called the tabernacle? The verses that relate to the tabernacle’s construction seem to go on and on. They fill not one, but four weekly portions.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

The Jewish Report Editorial

Above Board - Week 36

Speaking out against racism and prejudice wherever and whenever it occurs is part of the SAJBD’s mandate. Rather than being separate from our core mission which is to protect and uphold Jewish civil rights, it is in fact, part of the same broad goal.

by
SAJBD | Sep 21, 2016

An injury to one an injury to all

Speaking out against racism and prejudice wherever and whenever it occurs is part of the SAJBD’s mandate. Rather than being separate from our core mission which is to protect and uphold Jewish civil rights, it is in fact, part of the same broad goal.

By standing up for the rights of others, we contribute to an environment in which everyone feels safer. We also enhance our standing as a credible voice against racism by going beyond our own specific community’s concerns when the need arises.

Last week, the Board issued statements condemning the appearance of anti-Muslim graffiti and through the Hate Crimes Working Group welcomed the government’s decision to prohibit the radical anti-gay, and anti-Semitic, pastor Steven Anderson from visiting South Africa.

Both statements were covered by the mainstream media, with the Board’s Alana Baranov also being interviewed by several radio stations.

WJC: Keeping us connected in challenging times

Last week, SAJBD National President Mary Kluk attended the annual meeting of the World Jewish Congress executive committee, on which she sits as the representative for South African Jewry.

A key focus of the discussions was on ensuring the security of Jewish communities throughout the world, particularly the smaller ones who lack the resources to maintain the requisite security levels.

The WJC has established a sophisticated security department which has, inter alia, established effective channels of communication with constituent countries and through which it works with the respective countries’ leaderships to identify how and where the WJC can assist.

One of the highpoints of the meeting was an address by Judge Neal Hendel describing how Israel goes about fulfilling its mission to be a Jewish state while at the same time striving to uphold the highest standards of democracy and equality for all its citizens.

It is a complex challenge in a complex society, yet what Israel has achieved and is achieving in terms of these ideals, remains a measure against which all countries with diverse communities ought to be measured .

Jews of South Africa Exhibition

Last week Thursday, a series of cultural and educational events to mark 175 years of Jewish life in South Africa culminated in the opening of a superb new exhibition on what it has meant to be a Jewish South African over the generations.

The SAJBD Cape Council partnered with the SA Jewish Museum in putting together the exhibition, which has been a remarkable success and which we hope to bring up to Johannesburg eventually.

I endorse our Cape Chairman Eric Marx’s remarks on the occasion, when he cited the famous injunction in Pirkei Avot not to separate oneself from the community and went on to stress how our strength as a Jewish community has always been on how unified and well-structured we have been, while at the same time playing our part in the wider society.